biamplification wiring how-to


i have a mccormack tlc1 and 2 forte model 5's and would like to biamp a set of speakers for a 2 ch setup. i have yet to aquire the speakers but i will make sure they have the ability to seperate the high and low freq via seperate binding posts. the speakers i'm sure will have its own passive crossover built in. what to do? any advice will be appreciated.
nomadicslacker
Hi
You got two options here I think.
You can use the one Forte power amp for the left channel,and the second Forte for the right channel.You also will need two pairs of speaker cables,one pair for each channel,and one pair of interconnects plus two (Y )RCA adapters.Make sure you keep the jumbers on at the back of your speakers.
The other option would be to take out the speaker jumbers and use one Forte for the highs of BOTH speakers and the other Forte for the lows of BOTH speakers.
You are at an advantage point either way simply because you got two identical power-amps.My set-up uses different brands and models of power-amps.Rogue M150 monoblocks for mids-highs and ML 27.5 for lows.
Best of luck
George
George's response is well-considered. I would opt for the former, where each amp handles just the left or right channel [i.e. left ch on the tweeters and right ch on the woofers]. The advantage is that the power supply of each amp is only driving one bass channel, not two. I used this method very successfully a long time ago with a pair of NAD amps and some NEAR 50 spkrs if anybody remembers those.

Let us know what spkrs you get. Good luck.
hello yioryos and tripper, thanks for the responces to my question but i don't understand leaving on the strap that connects the high input and the low input to the speaker. would that not cause some kind of shorting out effect? keep in mind i am not electrically savvy YET. hopefully i will gain some knowledge from my experimentations with audio gear and this forum, which i have found to be the best.
When biamping, does the interconnects need to be the same length to both amps, such as the rule for speaker cable?
Nomadicslacker
Both methods are passive kind of bi-amping.The second is known as vertical.In first method we allow the internal crossover to do the signal spliting and send it to the various drivers for reproduction.So we use one pair of speaker cables per channel and keep the straps on.The interconnects are connected on the back of the pre-amp out L,R and before they connect on the back of the power amps they get a Y spliter.Therefore Left pre out to the left power amp inputs with a Y RCA spliter in place.Right channel the same way.Then the speaker cables for each channel go from RED of power-amps to RED of speakers for each channel and BLACKS to BLACKS.Straps ON.
The other method is a little different .We choose to by-pass the crossover's spliting task.We use TWO pairs of speaker cables per channel.Shotgun cables.The ends near the power amp get twisted together.All positives together and all negatives together.The positives connect with the RED terminal and the negatives with the BLACK terminal.From there they run to both speakers inputs.STRAPS OFF.The one pair of positive/negative goes to the left speaker LOW inputs .Keep the polarity the same.Positive to positive and negative to negative connections.The other amp will do the HIGHS of both speakers with same connection method.Straps off.
There is also the active bi-amplification but it is more costly and needs an active crossover with it's own power supply and all.Usually the crossover that comes in every speaker is optimized by the manufacturer for top performance.Therefore passive is more popular way of bi-amplification.
A lot of people in the hobby go for tube monoblocks for mids-highs and solid state dual mono power amp or monoblocks for the lows.That is my preffered method.
Best
George